Bobby Jindal on Health Care

Republican Governor; previously Representative (LA-1)

Market-based alternatives to top-down ObamaCare

There is an alternative to the trillion-dollar, top-down, government-driven policies of ObamaCare. Here's a list of market-based reforms that will reduce cost, increase access, & empower consumers:

Fix the Risk Pools: The government keeps creating
programs that take healthy people out of the insurance pools; older & sicker people keep their private coverage. Called the "death spiral," this trend is a major reason for the rise in premiums.

Allow people to "own" insurance policies that stay with
them when they cross state lines or change jobs

Allow the creation of Voluntary Purchasing Pools

End the Lawsuit Culture

Cover pre-existing conditions

Increase transparency: provider quality and cost should be made available via continually-
updated websites

Healthcare is a right; but instrument is the marketplace

Before the debate over Obama's healthcare bill, we were discussing SCHIP expansion. Republicans should have argued we wanted children to have coverage too, but instead of relying on a government-run system that crowds out existing private coverage and
wastes taxpayer dollars, we should introduce tax credits, voluntary purchasing pools, and other private sector incentives.

I believe healthcare is a right. The issue is not whether or not to expand and improve healthcare--but whether the instrument of
reform will be the government or the private sector. In my view, the government's role should be ensuring a robust marketplace that is competitive (so consumers have choice), transparent (so consumers can make informed decisions), accountable (so
resources are leveraged to reward good clinical outcomes rather than simply paying for the process of care), effective (by engaging consumers in making good health choices for themselves and their families), and accessible (so healthcare is affordable).

Euthanasia cheapens life just like abortion & infanticide

Think about elderly folks who are barely functional and no longer enjoy life. I bet those old timers would rather not be a burden after all. Calling Dr. Kevorkian...

If human beings have no inherent value, their value comes solely from being useful.
Not useful? Then not much of a reason to live.

I'm not suggesting everyone who disagrees with me on the issue of euthanasia takes these views. But if you believe human beings are essentially indistinguishable from animals, you run the risk of viewing
life and death issues differently from those who believe there is something profound that separates us from the animal kingdom.

Those who promote the concept that some human life is more valuable than any other life, and therefore advocate abortion,
infanticide, and euthanasia, cheapen human life and lay the groundwork for all sorts of destructive behavior. What we need is a culture of life that values human beings as unique creatures who were made by our Creator.

Universal access, but not government-run

Republicans believe in a simple principle: No American should have to worry about losing their health coverage--period. We stand for universal access to affordable health care coverage. What we oppose is universal government-run health care.
Health care decisions should be made by doctors and patients, not by government bureaucrats. If we put aside partisan politics and work together, we can make our system of private medicine affordable and accessible for every one of our citizens.

Source: GOP response to the 2009 State of the Union address
Feb 24, 2009

Move away from ER to primary care; cover 100,000 uninsured

The Louisiana Health First initiative outlines improvements in our health care system that factor in the serious fiscal circumstances we face today and make it clear that we cannot make these improvements wait another year. The initiative includes:
Covering 100,000 additional Louisianians who are uninsured today; We must move away from an all-or-nothing one-size-fits-all system; We must move away from the ER to primary care.

Under the initiative, the state will for the first time be able to hold our healthcare system accountable for outcomes in Medicaid. Right now, all we can do is pay over 50 million claims a year to over 30,000 providers.
We get a bill and we pay it, with no assurance that the service was necessary, improved the patient's health, or was even safe.

Voted NO on requiring negotiated Rx prices for Medicare part D.

Would require negotiating with pharmaceutical manufacturers the prices that may be charged to prescription drug plan sponsors for covered Medicare part D drugs.

Proponents support voting YES because:

This legislation is an overdue step to improve part D drug benefits. The bipartisan bill is simple and straightforward. It removes the prohibition from negotiating discounts with pharmaceutical manufacturers, and requires the Secretary of Health & Human Services to negotiate. This legislation will deliver lower premiums to the seniors, lower prices at the pharmacy and savings for all taxpayers.

It is equally important to understand that this legislation does not do certain things. HR4 does not preclude private plans from getting additional discounts on medicines they offer seniors and people with disabilities. HR4 does not establish a national formulary. HR4 does not require price controls. HR4 does not hamstring research and development by pharmaceutical houses.
HR4 does not require using the Department of Veterans Affairs' price schedule.

Opponents support voting NO because:

Does ideological purity trump sound public policy? It shouldn't, but, unfortunately, it appears that ideology would profoundly change the Medicare part D prescription drug program, a program that is working well, a program that has arrived on time and under budget. The changes are not being proposed because of any weakness or defect in the program, but because of ideological opposition to market-based prices. Since the inception of the part D program, America's seniors have had access to greater coverage at a lower cost than at any time under Medicare.

Under the guise of negotiation, this bill proposes to enact draconian price controls on pharmaceutical products. Competition has brought significant cost savings to the program. The current system trusts the marketplace, with some guidance, to be the most efficient arbiter of distribution.

Improve services for people with autism & their families.

Jindal co-sponsored improving services for people with autism & their families

Amends the Public Health Service Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to:

convene, on behalf of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, a Treatments, Interventions, and Services Evaluation Task Force to evaluate evidence-based biomedical and behavioral treatments and services for individuals with autism;

establish a multi-year demonstration grant program for states to provide evidence-based autism treatments, interventions, and services.

establish planning and demonstration grant programs for adults with autism;

award grants to states for access to autism services following diagnosis;

award grants to
University Centers of Excellence for Developmental Disabilities to provide services and address the unmet needs of individuals with autism and their families;

make grants to protection and advocacy systems to address the needs of individuals with autism and other emerging populations of individuals with disabilities; and

award a grant to a national nonprofit organization for the establishment and maintenance of a national technical assistance center for autism services and information dissemination.

Directs the Comptroller General to issue a report on the financing of autism services and treatments.

Establish a national childhood cancer database.

Jindal co-sponsored establishing a national childhood cancer database

Conquer Childhood Cancer Act of 2007 - A bill to advance medical research and treatments into pediatric cancers, ensure patients and families have access to the current treatments and information regarding pediatric cancers, establish a population-based national childhood cancer database, and promote public awareness of pediatric cancers.

Authorizes the Secretary to award grants to childhood cancer professional and direct service organizations for the expansion and widespread implementation of:

activities that provide information on treatment protocols to ensure early access to the best available therapies and clinical trials for pediatric cancers;

activities that provide available information on the late effects of pediatric cancer treatment to ensure access to necessary long-term medical and psychological care; and

direct resource services such as educational outreach for parents, information on school reentry and postsecondary education, and resource directories or referral services for financial assistance, psychological counseling, and other support services.

Legislative Outcome: House version H.R.1553; became Public Law 110-285 on 7/29/2008.

Loosen "one-size-fits-all" approach to Medicaid.

Jindal signed Letter to Pres. Obama from 32 Governors

As Governors, we are writing to you regarding the excessive constraints placed on us by healthcare-related federal mandates. One of our biggest concerns continues to be the Maintenance of Effort (MOE) provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which prevent states from managing their Medicaid programs for their unique Medicaid populations. We ask for your immediate action to remove these MOE requirements so that states are once again granted the flexibility to control their program costs and make necessary budget decisions.

Every Governor, Republican and Democrat, will face unprecedented budget challenges in the coming months. Efforts to regulate state operations impose greater uncertainty on our budgets for oncoming years and create a perfect storm when coupled with the current state of the economy.

Health and education are the primary cost drivers for most state budgets. Medicaid enrollment is up. Revenues are down. States are unable to afford the current Medicaid program, yet our hands are tied by the MOE requirements. The effect of the federal requirements is unconscionable; the federal requirements force Governors to cut other critical state programs, such as education, in order to fund a "one-size-fits-all" approach to Medicaid. Again, we ask you to lift the MOE requirements so that states may make difficult budget decisions in ways that reflect the needs of their residents.